Vegetable Garden For Beginners

Jake here!

For several years now the idea of having a vegetable garden has always sounded so fun, but I never really knew where to start, that is until I met Rachel. Rachel is a gardening pro. She has been gardening with her family since she was able to walk. With her guidance and expertise, she helped start my very own vegetable garden this year. I am so excited to learn more about gardening and watch my veggies grow! I will be sharing every step of the way.

I first selected a sunny spot in my backyard. I made sure that the location I picked would get a minimum of 6 hours of sunlight per day. And measured out the dimensions of my garden- 8 feet by 4 feet with some string and post. There are two main ways to make a vegetable garden- a raised bed or in ground. I decided to make an in-ground bed for my first year.

I then tore up exciting landscape fabric and moved some pavers out of the way.

I installed two fences, square wire mesh fence to keep critters out zip tied to a decorative fence. I buried the fence about two inches to keep critters from crawling underneath. I then added 9 bags of garden soil so the new garden soil depth was 6 inches and mixed in some fertilizer. You can determine the amount of soil you need by calculating the volume. So in my case 8 feet x 4 feet x 6 inches = .59 cubic yards, which is roughly 2/3 of a yard. There are 27 cubic feet in 1 yard. Each bag of soil I purchased was 2 cubic feet, so I purchased 9 to equal 18 cubic feet, so 2/3 of a yard. Don’t worry if this is confusing, you can look up a soil calculator to help you determine the amount of soil you will need.

I was able to plant my onions first (end of April), as they can be planted as soon as the soil can be worked. My squash, leeks, lettuce, thyme, chives, basil, tomato and pepper plants were planted after the danger of frost. This year in Minnesota I started planting May 15th. It is usually safe to plant around the middle of May in Minnesota, but always be sure to check the extended forecast for temperatures below 40 degrees Fahrenheit.

I added a cage to both the tomato and pepper plants to keep them upright. I then planted some zinnias around the perimeter and added some mulch around the garden area to add a finishing touch.

Now it’s just time for maintenance, tender loving care and to watch them grow!